Plastic free

We are Plastic free Champion No.48

In 2018 we were proudly awarded plastic free status and became part of the Plastic free community here in Penzance. We are so proud to be a plastic free business! and further more, part of the first town in the UK to become a plastic free town. Penzance is the UKs first ever single-use plastic free town! 

Its all thanks to the surfers against sewage organisation who started this plastic free community. They set out to create a Plastic Free Community network to free where we live from single-use. Their mission -  "so that together we can tackle the avoidable single-use plastic, from the beach all the way back to the brands and businesses who create it" 

But whats does it mean to be plastic free?

Well, its about excluding any avoidable single-use plastic items. To be conscious and aware of the plastic items that are used once and then thrown away which is so pointless. To instead find an alternative that will have an positive impact on the planet rather than a negative one.  Like, simply choosing to using a paper tape rather than a plastic one or using paper bags in the shop rather than plastic ones.

Its that simple. It isn't always the easiest way or the cheapest option mind. Plastic tape for example, costs much less then paper tape but if you compare that to the long term impact of plastic waste, it's priceless. Planet before profits. 

Its something we can all do, as individuals not just as a business. We can all choose a plastic free option. 

How we have become and continue to be a plastic free company 

+ No plastic packaging - We Re-use ALL supplier packaging for packing online orders. Paper, boxes, stuffing and if we receive plastic like bubble wrap we re-use that too. 

+ No plastic mailing bags - We use Kraft paper to wrap and ship all orders

+ No plastic bags - We use Paper bags in packing orders and for customers in the shop

+ No plastic tape - We use paper parcel tapes

+ We use biodegradable document enclosed wallets used for shipping labels

+ Donate our fabric scraps from our in-house soft furnishing makings to local crafts

+ No Zip ties - We use scraps of fabric as ties for our mail bags instead of zip ties. (if ever there was a pointless single use plastic item, the zip tie is it!)

+ Stock as many natural products as possible (this is ongoing as we look to remove all short term plastic products from our shelves) and If there is a natural alternative we will always choose that first.

+ Stock products that offer a plastic free alternative, like re-usable Bamboo coffee cups for example.

+ Encourage suppliers to make plastic free choices. If everyone could make small changes.........

+ As we are based in Cornwall, we regularly go to the beach as a family and always do little cleans as we go by simply picking up litter and other plastic items we find washed up on the beach. This isn't to be a plastic free company but simply to help keep our beautiful beaches clean. It's also a good excuse to go to the beach, not that an excuse is needed mind. We do live in Cornwall!!  

We feel its really import to be and choose to be, part of the solution and not part of the problem!

Some shocking facts about plastic pollution...

+ Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years.

+ 8 Million pieces of plastic pollution finds its way into the ocean every day

+ 320,000,000 tones of plastic generated globally in 2016.  Set to double by 2034

+ 5000 items of Marine plastic pollution per mile of beach in the UK